David Dellagi Closed on Mondays

CGK Centre for Contemporary Art

3 November - 20 December 2018

Opening reception: Friday 2 November 5.30pm - 8.30pm

David Dellagi’s solo exhibition at CGK Centre for Contemporary Art, consisting of painting, sculpture and video, unfolds the vision of an imaginary and non-existing art museum. Thus, the artist explores his interest in exposing the artistic proces itself, as well as the institutions of the art world. Following this, the title of the show refers to the international phenomenon of museums and galleries being closed on Mondays.

The concept of literally stepping into the work of art, or reversely of letting the work of art step out of its frame to engage in the “real” world is a theme that permeates all of the works in the exhibition. In a collage animation video, the artworks in an alternate universe version of a renowned museum of modern art come alive and engage in sexual interaction with each other as well as with the guests of the museum in a virtual explosion of Kama Sutra positions and surreal transformations, giving the expression “stepping into art” a whole new meaning.

A series of paintings portray fictitious sculpture parks and installations of paintings that, in the frenzied imagination of the artist, become the stage of a mutating potpourri of artistic styles and genres. Relishing in parodic references to celebrated icons of Modernism, such as Picasso, Leger and Moore, the quoted artworks are let loose in museum hallways like mad, erotic and death-defying creatures.

The floor of the old machine hall at CGK is the setting of a “sculpture park” consisting of large-scale figures made of mixed materials and found objects, utilising the expressive laissez faire handling of materials that also characterise the paintings in the exhibition. The shape of the figures hint at an irreverent Giacometti spoof; but other themes are also touched upon, such as fatal encounters with baby accessories, not to mention butt cheek fixation, without forgoing more traditional artistic themes such as anxiety and sexual confusion.

Closed on Mondays is an exhibition about inspiration, that in itself inspires, courtesy of its unfettered approach to excessive imagining, while simultaneously provoking via its satire of and irreverence towards the snobbery and conservatism of the art world.

The exhibition is curated by Simon Ganshorn.

David Dellagi has produced a remarkably rich and diverse body of work, ranging from painting, sculpture and collage to film. He made his artistic debut at The Artist’s Autumn Exhibition (KE), in copenhagen in 1993. Since then, he as exhibited widely in places such as Skive Kunstmuseum, Rønnebæksholm, Kunstbygningen i Vrå, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Marie Kirkegaard Gallery, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Danish Graphics Association, as well as in New York, London, Los Angeles, Stockholm and Mexico City.

The exhibition opens with a reception Friday 2 November 5.30pm - 8.30 pm.

From 3 November - 20 December open by appointment. Contact: cbykunst@gmail.com